Kyuusei Chapter 7: Soba
"Makoto," I said, a little quietly.
He turned to face me and raised an eyebrow. "What?"
I gestured to the people in front of us. We were in line, having gotten the necessary materials for the ramen, to check out. Several people were staring, but many where attempting to be polite and hide their curiosity. Makoto shrugged and said in Japanese, "Let them stare. It's fine."
That only made them stare more.
After a few minutes, we had walked out of the store and into the mall food court. We sat down at a table and waited for John Michael. He had gone off with a $20 bill his mother had given him, and we were waiting for him. Makoto was getting impatient, which was odd.
"Where's your friend?" hissed Makoto in English.
I shrugged. "I can go look for him."
"Fine." Makoto leaned back on his chair, and a few girls glanced at him and started snickering. I walked away, adjusting my glasses. As I entered the store that John Michael had went into, I heard a loud noise from an aisle.
"No, Michael."
"You're kidding me, right? You don't have any at all?"
"Yes, Michael. None. Why do you want some anyway?"
"For a friend, okay?"
"I guess she's really into this stuff?"
"Stuff? It's manga, not stuff."
I hissed to myself in a sing-song voice, "You're saying it wrong, it's mon-ga, not mang-ga." I started towards the loud voices, "Hey!" I yelled at John Michael, who jumped nearly out of his skin.
"Yume-Yumeka!" he said, and started laughing nervously. The man helping him in the aisle crossed his arms and started at me. After a minute I told John Michael that we needed to get home. It was nearly dinnertime.
"Really?! Aww, we can't go to the arcade..."
"Yes. Let's go." I tugged him along and Makoto glanced up as we walked out of the store.
"Great," he said. "Those girls are driving me crazy." He gestured his palm towards the snickering young teenagers eating Chinese food, despite being American.
I nodded. Pulling out my phone, I dialed Mom's number.
"Hey, Mom," I said. "We got everything and we're coming home."
"Great! Did you get the seasoning?"
"We have some at home," I answered.
"Okay, see you. By the way, Hinoki says hi."
"Hi, Hinochan," I said. Then after saying goodbye, I hang up. We walked quickly out to the car and I called shotgun before John Michael could. He was the type to call it right after getting out of the car for the next time he got in, but I guess he didn't remember to do so in his excitement.
Once we got home, I saw Dad roll up the garage for us. Once we got in and then we slid out of the car, he pulled me aside. "Yumeka," he said, his voice breaking, "What happened to you yesterday?"
"Did you tell Dad?" I hissed at John Michael, who nodded stiffly, looking unsure.
Dad shook his head. "Yume-chan," he said. "I want to talk to you."
